


Circumstantial

by fabulously_frenzied



Series: ML Oneshots [21]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Episode: s02 Le Collectionneur | The Collector, Fix-It, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabulously_frenzied/pseuds/fabulously_frenzied
Summary: Chat Noir asks for proof.(Astruc ignored that we actually have some.)
Series: ML Oneshots [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1426444
Comments: 21
Kudos: 103





	Circumstantial

**Author's Note:**

> this idea came to me in the middle of the night after lying around for hours waiting for my insomnia to take a break.
> 
> I know that Astruc has said before that the chronology of the show is fluid and the positions of several episodes are interchangeable, but we _know_ that the events of the episode Collector are directly caused by the events of the episode Volpina.  
> So. Take that, Astruc.

_“Chat Noir, I think I know who Hawk Moth is. Get your whiskers over here, fast!”_

This could be big.

No.

This could be _huge,_ Adrien thinks as he bounds across rooftops to the meeting point. Since the villain’s first appearance, he and his Lady had made a frustrating amount of _no progress_ on discovering Hawk Moth’s identity. But Ladybug just called him — which she’s never done when there’s not an akuma out and about — and she sounded so confident! And given how resourceful and clever and wonderful and amazing and awesome and fabu— how _smart_ his Lady is, she has to be on the right track, right?

  


* * *

  
_Gabriel Agreste?!_

No. _No._ She has to be wrong. She _has_ to. There’s no way Father is Hawk Moth. She couldn’t even give him real proof! _“You must trust me on this.”_ Yeah. Trust her. Because Chat Noir can’t know any _secrets;_ it’s just too _dangerous_ for him to know anything. Just like always. Honestly, why’s he even a superhero in the first place if—

“Wait! I know! I’ve got it!” she exclaims, nearly startling him off the roof. “You remember Volpina, right?”

Ugh. “Yeah, what about her?” Is this another lecture about not trusting so easily and how Lila had used that to fool him? Did she have to be so high and mighty _all_ the time? She was wrong sometimes too. That same day, even! He still doesn’t understand why she had to yell at Lila the way she did. It was just one lie. People lied about knowing him all the time, probably.

“Do you remember where her akuma was?” Ladybug asks.

“Her necklace, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. One shaped like a fox’s tail that she claimed was the Fox Miraculous. But do you know _where_ she got it?”

He’s never questioned that before. After all, Lila _had_ told him it belonged to her grandmother, and why lie about that? “Where?” he asks flatly. He’s losing patience. She still hasn’t given him any proof.

“A _Gabriel_ boutique. How can Gabriel Agreste have made an exact replica of the Fox Miraculous if he’s never seen it?”

Oh.

Oh, that actually is a solid argument. Oh no.

“Wh-buh— but if Lila was lying about being descended from a superhero, can we actually believe that’s what the Fox Miraculous looks like? Actually, how do we even know that a Fox Miraculous even _exists?”_ he rebuts, crossing his arms. Ha. Got her there… even though he’d seen illustrations of Fox heroes in that strange book Father kept in that safe. He’s still mad about that whole ordeal. But there’s no way Ladybug knows about the book, right?

“Because it _does,_ Chat Noir! I even saw it myself today!”

_What?!_ “You did?!”

“Yes! It… ugh, I _really_ shouldn’t be telling you this, but you have to understand! Chat Noir, do you remember meeting a strange old man right before you received your Miraculous?”

Boy, does he ever. He could have started school on the first day without Nathalie seeing him. But then that old man fell, and… well, he couldn’t just _not_ help him. Thinking back on it, he recalls an odd glint in that old man’s eyes, like he knew Adrien somehow. “Actually, yeah, I do. Why?”

She pinches the bridge of her nose and exhales deeply. “That was the Guardian of the Miraculous.”

“The what?”

“The Guardian! He’s the one who keeps all the Miraculous and the one who gave us the Ladybug and the Black Cat. He told me today that two of them were lost: the Butterfly, which we know Hawk Moth has, and the Peacock. But he showed me three others, too; the Turtle, which he currently wields—”

“Wait, if he has all these Miraculous, why doesn’t he help us fight?” Why do they have to do everything themselves? What _is_ it with adults keeping him at arm’s length all the time?

“You saw him. He’s too old.”

Oh. That does check out.

“Anyway, as I was saying, the Guardian has the Turtle, which grants Protection; the Bee, which grants Subjection; and the Fox, which grants Deception.” She looks him in the eye. “So yes, there _is_ a Fox Miraculous, to answer your question.”

Okay. Okay. He can believe that. But if he believes that, if there really is a Fox, and Lila’s necklace was fake, and she bought it from one of Father’s boutiques, then…

“Oh, no.”

“What is it?”

“But it can’t be Gabriel Agreste! It _can’t_ be him! It _can’t!”_

“I don’t know, Chat, I mean, he’s a pretty secretive man—”

_Check._

“—he never leaves his house—”

_Check._

“—and get this: check out his brand’s logo!” she exclaims, holding out her yo-yo, displaying the _Gabriel_ signature. A dozen other images flash through his mind at once. His sneakers. Hallway tiles. Vases. The company pens he’s received for his birthday for three years.

“A… a butterfly.” He wants it to be coincidence. He so, so badly wants it all to be just one big misunderstanding. What’s that saying? Twice is coincidence…

…three times is enemy action.

He stands and thinks, processing, analyzing, trying desperately to point out an error in her logic—

“The book!” he cries. Yes! That’s the coincidence! That’s it!

Ladybug narrows her eyes. “The book?”

“Yeah, that book! He must have seen all those Fox heroes in the book, and, and, and, uh, they must have inspired him! That’s it! It’s just a big coincidence, a misunderstanding—”

“How do you know about the book?” She’s stepped back, pointing at him, staring at him.

Uh. Oops.

Wait.

“How do _you_ know about the book?!” He’s pointing now too. What the heck is going _on_ today?!

“No, no, no, no!” Ladybug starts to shake, her eyes growing wet. “No, I can’t _do_ this! I’m so _tired_ of all these _secrets!”_ She tugs on her pigtails so hard Adrien figures it has to hurt, but she doesn’t seem to care. The next thing he knows, she’s sunk to her knees, writhing, tearing her hair out of her head. “Secrets… so… tired— no! No! _No!”_ The moment her voice breaks, the moment the first tear rolls down her cheek, he’s at her side.

“Whoa, whoa, Bug! Ladybug, look at me, breathe, breathe with me. It’s gonna be alright, m’kay? We’re gonna get through it. Together.” And right now, it doesn’t matter who Hawk Moth is. It doesn’t matter if there are more Miraculous. The only thing that matters is being there for her. And if anyone, including Father or even that mythical Guardian, tries to hurt her or keep him away from her, he’ll fight.

“Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

**Author's Note:**

> [lb and cn in this fic](https://i.redd.it/bekphnqftcb41.jpg)
> 
> hit me up on [tumblr!](fabulously-frenzied.tumblr.com)


End file.
